Patriots RB Damien Harris. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)Getty Images

FOXBOROUGH - At the age of eight, Damien Harris touched a football for the first time, and thus kicked off his rise to becoming an NFL star and fan-favorite with the New England Patriots.

The running back routinely catches eyes for his energy on the field, hyping up both his fellow teammates and the crowd.

“I’m always in a good mood,” Harris said with a smile on his face. “How can you not be? It’s football season in New England.”

Harris is entering his fourth season since the Patriots drafted him in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. After starting his career at the bottom of the depth chart as a rookie, he rose to the team’s leading rusher the past two seasons. Not the flashiest back in the league, Harris has established a reputation as a consistent, powerful runner between the tackles.

“I just love what I do,” Harris said. “It’s as simple as that. Every morning when I wake up, I feel so blessed and so fortunate to be able to come out here and play the game that I loved.

With multiple rookie running backs now looking to earn a spot on the Patriots roster, Harris is now seen as a role model to the younger players, something he can’t quite believe.

“It’s crazy because I feel like my rookie year was just like last year,” Harris said. “Time flies and being a little bit of an older guy in the room now, I don’t really feel any extra pressure or responsibility. Because every day when I step out here, my goal is to be my best and I know that if I’m my best, I can push other people to be their best as well.”

However, when he first touched that football, he wasn’t sure if football was the sport for him.

“I wasn’t really a fan of it at first,” Harris said. “I didn’t really like getting dirty. I didn’t like getting hit and everything. My mom kind of made me stick with it because she told me I couldn’t quit in the middle of the year, but thank goodness she did.

Down the line, his love for the sport grew.

Coincidentally, the first quarterback to ever hand off a ball to Harris in the backfield was actually Jarrett Stidham, who was with the Patriots until being traded earlier this season.

“I don’t really remember how it went, but the rest is history,” Harris said.

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